Tesla Model S Seatbelt Recall Affects 7,166 Vehicles In China

Typically, a recall announced in China wouldn’t hit our radar. However, since Tesla refuses to publish sales, this recall affords us with a rare opportunity to discover exactly how many Model S electric cars have been sold to date in China.

Tesla will recall all 7,166 Model S sedans sold in China that were manufactured between May 1, 2012 and November 12, 2015. That figure comes directly from China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

The only other hard data point for Model S sales this year in China was the revelation that 3,025 had been sold between January and September.

Of note is that none of the early Model S electric cars (those manufactured in 2012 and 2013) were ever sold in China, but since the recall affects all Model S ever built, the dates listed above are there to cover all of the Tesla electric sedans manufactured to date (prior to the initial recall announcement).

Hong Kong, a former British colony, uses right-hand-drive cars. Mainland China doesn’t. Furthermore, travel by automobile between Hong Kong and the rest of China is highly restricted, and requires a special permit.

I can’t state it as fact, but it seems reasonable to think that cars exported to Hong Kong are sent there directly, and not thru mainland China. Hong Kong is also a separate regulatory region. As the Chinese say about Hong Kong and China: “One country, two systems.” So I doubt that any numbers given for cars in China would include the Hong Kong region.

Elon Musk called China a wild card once and a card like that can go either way, including major disappointment clearly.

Smog is reaching absurd levels though in some Chinese cities and at some point lawmakers will want to do something that actually works unlike some current policies like supporting PHEVs that nobody ever plugs in but are only bought to get a registration licence more easily.

When that happens demand for a car like Model 3 could turn out to be pretty wild someday.

Most of the Chinese air smog are generated due to coal based electricity generation and coal used for heating in the winter. Driving electric cars won’t do much to help with those heating and power plant related smog generation.

“Most of the Chinese air smog are generated due to coal based electricity generation and coal used for heating in the winter.”

Hmmm, well I don’t know about “most”; surely a lot of it is from industrial smokestack emissions unrelated to power generation.

But China burns especially dirty brown coal, not the harder black coal usually burned in American power plants, so their air pollution problem from coal-fired plants is even worse than ours, on a per-kWh basis.

But even if power plant emissions from charging EVs produced as much air pollution as running a gasmobile — it doesn’t, but some people continue to believe it does, ignoring the fact that EVs are so much more energy-efficient than the typical gasmobile* — at worst, displacing that exhaust outside the large cities will help with pollution inside the large cities, which is where it’s really bad in China.

I dunno what percentage of China’s coal-fired plants are located outside major cities, but surely some of them are?

“Hmmm, well I don’t know about “most”; surely a lot of it is from industrial smokestack emissions unrelated to power generation.”

Yes it is due to the fact that biggest problem with Chinese pollution is PM or particulates pollution which is mostly generated by dust, industrial pollution and mainly coal fired/burning activities. That is why the problem is far worse in China. In other developed world, the NOx/VOC based smog dominated. That is not saying that NOx/VOC isn’t a big problem as well, but the biggest component of Chinese pollution is particulates and coal based emissions.

“But China burns especially dirty brown coal, not the harder black coal usually burned in American power plants, so their air pollution problem from coal-fired plants is even worse than ours, on a per-kWh basis.”

Absolutely, thus the worse PM problem which makes an EV related coal power even dirtier than the US grid.

“But even if power plant emissions from charging EVs produced as much air pollution as running a gasmobile — it doesn’t, but some people continue to believe it does, ignoring the fact that EVs are so much more energy-efficient than the typical gasmobile* — at worst, displacing that exhaust outside the large cities will help with pollution inside the large cities, which is where it’s really bad in China.”

That is not the correct model for China where the coal plants are far dirtier than the US or EU coal plants. The so called UCS study is based on CO2 emission while neglect the particulates pollution. We aren’t talking about global warming here (which is a big problem). I am talking about people breathing in PM today in northern Chinese cities.

It doesn’t matter if the power plants are outside the city. When Beijing air gets bad, they shut down the factories in Shaanxi, Shanxi, HeBei and surrounding province, not the city itself. Those are the heavy industry province where coal and steel are manufactured.

Beijing and majority of Chinese cities are located on the coastal region which is mostly downwind from the major mining, resources refining and metal working inland area. The smog issue in Beijing is worsening by the local Geography where it is surrounded by mountains which traps pollution over the city.

In addition, Beijing generates a lot of its own pollution due to coal burning for the winter heating requirement. So, driving EVs won’t do a thing to alleviate those problems.

As Chinese grid gets cleaners, then EV will be the path to cleaner future. That will take decades. Hybrids are ready today and it will make an impact directly. Cars don’t last forever, by the next generation, the grid will be cleaner and EVs will be ready as well.

That is quite a sales spike, considering that average sales through September was 336 units (3,025/9). So far, only the US, Denmark and now China (if these estimates are correct) have gone the extra mile to contribute for the 4Q record sales goal between 17K to 19K.